Mightyouterspace

       The soft quiet beat can be heard, you don’t need to strain your ears to listen. Within the first thirty seconds, the soft picking and strumming of an acoustic guitar comes in, slowly soaring from the Mystic Valley and down to your heart.  This is Conor Oberst; this is Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band.

Anyone who has ever been involved in the indie music scene has heard of Bright Eyes, and the soft and tortured sound of a boy named Conor Oberst.  We live in a generation where we as teenagers never really did catch onto idolizing the bands of our times, like our grandparents did back in the “olden” times.  Conor Oberst could easily be the Bob Dylan of our generation; he’s the boy with the brilliant mind, the boy that girls didn’t necessarily fall for his good looks and charm, but the simple words that came from his mind and out of his mouth.

It was no surprise to read about yet another Oberst album, the countdown for yet another fantastic album had finally started.  When it was finally released it was sweet music to our ears.  Oberst has evolved so much between Digital Ash in a Digital Urn which released in early 2005 and Cassadaga which released April of last year.  His self titled album seems to follow the trend and the technique he used when he recorded Cassadaga. 

So here is how the story goes: with every album Oberst touches there seems to be some sort of story that we automatically envy, wishing that as musicians we too, will someday be able to hold or share the same power that Oberst seems to possess.  It has been said that in order to record this album, Oberst with some usually faces, and some new faces, traveled far and wide to Morales, Mexico for a single month to record.  Right off the bat this seems like a remarkable feat to record an entire nine song album in thirty days.

Cape Canaveral is the first song on the album; it’s soft and subtle tones, set the mood for the entire album.  This song seems to feel more of a nostalgic type song, singing about “1960’s speak” or “1980’s greed.”  There is a very comfortable vibe throughout this entire album; Oberst has shown through his words that he is becoming more comfortable with his spirituality.   It has a very similar vibe like Cassadaga did, but it when his self titled album came out; it’s as if he has finally become comfortable with what he has started.

In the song Get Well Cards, Oberst comes out as not only writing with Bob Dylan tendencies, but he sounds remarkably like him in this song.  Oberst talks about how the “postman” is sleepin in the sand, he’s got a letter to deliver, but he can’t stay mad at him, which gives you a good sense that the song coincides with forgiveness, which is something we don’t really understand a lot of the times.  Oberst tends to be versatile in his songs, instead of writing just about tortured love; he touches bases on events that happen throughout life.

Enjoy life while you have it, may sound completely cliché, but it is the simplest way to explain what I don’t want to Die (In the Hospital) is about.  This is a fun, lighthearted, yet very morbid song, morbid has always been one of Oberst’s strong points, so why stop now?  This song comes off as being very visual and very clear, you can get an excellent image in your head of Oberst in the hospital, screaming to get out, trying to get his boots on, getting rid of his morphine drip, he is telling you all about this ordeal, hoping in some way you can actually help him.

            When it comes to Oberst and any number of projects he has his hands in, it’s hit or miss.  He is the type of musician where you either love him or hate him, and its effortless history from there.  If you are in need of any sort of indie music, it would be recommended that Oberst is you man for that job.  Download to your iPod, go to your record store around the corner, give this album a shot, sit back and listen, wait for the sounds coming down from the Mystic Valley.

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